Copy refers to written material, in contrast to photographs or other elements of layout, in a large number of contexts, including magazines, advertising, and book publishing.

In advertising

Advertising

Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...

, web marketing and similar fields, copy refers to the output of copywriters

Copywriting

Copywriting is the use of words and ideas to promote a person, business, opinion or idea. Although the word copy may be applied to any content intended for printing , the term copywriter is generally limited to promotional situations, regardless of the medium...

, who are employed to write material which encourages consumer

Consumer

Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...

s to buy goods or services.

In publishing

Publishing

Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

 more generally, the term copy refers to the text in books, magazines, and newspapers. In books, it means the text as written by the author, which the copy editor

Copy editing

Copy editing is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text. Unlike general editing, copy editing might not involve changing the substance of the text. Copy refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication...

 then prepares for typesetting

Typesetting

Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...

 and printing

Printing

Printing is a process for reproducing text and image, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing....

.

In newspapers and magazines, "body copy", the main article or text that writer

Writer

A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

s are responsible for, is contrasted with "display copy," accompanying material such as headline

Headline

The headline is the text at the top of a newspaper article, indicating the nature of the article below it.It is sometimes termed a news hed, a deliberate misspelling that dates from production flow during hot type days, to notify the composing room that a written note from an editor concerned a...

s and caption

Caption

Caption may refer to:*Caption , a small press and independent comic convention held annually in Oxford, England*Closed captioning, used to provide the text of a show's audio portion to those who may have trouble hearing it...

s, which are usually written by copy editors or sub-editors.

See also

• Hard copy
  Hard copy
  In information handling, a hard copy is a permanent reproduction, or copy, in the form of a physical object, of any media suitable for direct use by a person , of displayed or transmitted data...
  
  
• Copywriting
  Copywriting
  Copywriting is the use of words and ideas to promote a person, business, opinion or idea. Although the word copy may be applied to any content intended for printing , the term copywriter is generally limited to promotional situations, regardless of the medium...
  
  
• Copy editing
  Copy editing
  Copy editing is the work that an editor does to improve the formatting, style, and accuracy of text. Unlike general editing, copy editing might not involve changing the substance of the text. Copy refers to written or typewritten text for typesetting, printing, or publication...
  
  
• Publishing
  Publishing
  Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...